No cancellations but tourists remain wary, J&K on damage control mode

CHENNAI: Four months after Jammu and Kashmir and Tamil Nadu governments signed an MoU for promoting tourism, the death of a tourist from Chennai in a stone pelting incident in Jammu and Kashmir has cast a cloud over the summer holiday season. The incident has forced the J&K tourism ministry and the travel and tour operators into a damage control mode.
J&K held a road show in Chennai and signed an MoU with Tamil Nadu under “Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat” scheme in December 2017. Though there are no reports of large scale cancellation of tours from Chennai, tourists remain concerned about safety. Travel and tour operators received calls from groups who have plans to travel in the coming weeks.

Manzoor Ahmed Pathtoon, chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Alliance, which coordinates inter-state tourism promotions, said: “It was a sudden violence that happened when security forces advanced towards an angry crowd on a highway and they were caught between. We met the family and government has assured support.” tnn